Star Wars Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace in 3D

Revisiting the most disappointing movie in the history of cinema (although not necessarily the worst) many years on. First thing to say is that for once the 3D actually works. The iconic opening crawl of text going up the screen is surely the kind of thing 3D was made for and is undeniably cool. The 3D also enhances the most thrilling visual sequences of the film, like the pod race.

What it doesn't do is hide the films many shortcomings. Like the dreadfully, exposition laden script, some of worst crowd acting ever and the leads not much better, the overly convoluted plot and of course, Jar Jar - a cinematic crime so horrendous that not even double ended light-sabers can redeem the film. There is some fun to be had spotting the before-she-was-famous Keira Knightly and wondering if Jake Lloyd ever recovered from the trauma of growing up to be Hayden Christensen, but overall time has done nothing to improve the film (although the visual effects still hold up well). The one consolation - it was still better than Episode II!

Overall -5/10 The 3D works, the film still disappoints though.